MICHIGAN: John Beilein guided this team to a tie for first in last year's conference and even though just two starters are back, there is no shortage of ready-to-go talent on this Wolverines squad. While the team will really miss Zack Novak and Evan Smotryczk, last year's two leading scorers are back in the fold in Trey Burke (14.8 PPG, 4.6 APG) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (14.6 PPG), forming the conference's most dangerous backcourt duo as excellent dribble-drivers who combined to average nearly 3.5 three-pointers per game. Forward Jordan Morgan (7.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG) will remain a key role player while freshman SF Glenn Robinson III may be prove to be the most college-ready first-year player in the conference. With freshman Mitch McGary manning the post at 6-foot-10, this is a complete roster that has the ideal mix of veterans and young talent to still be balling in late March.

PENN ST: The Nittany Lions may be looking forward to the hardwood to distract from the football turmoil of the last year, but Patrick Chambers' crew will have a difficult time improving on last year's rough 4-14 record in the conference. The good news is they still have star point guard Tim Frazier (18.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 6.2 APG, 2.4 SPG) who is a workhorse on the perimeter, leading Penn State in points, rebounds, assists and steals last season. Jermaine Marshall (10.8 PPG) and Southern Miss transfer D.J. Newbill complete a strong backcourt, but PSU will be overmatched down low on a nightly basis.

Having won back-to-back games for the first time this month, Michigan is hoping to add to its momentum before heading into March.

Another matchup with Penn State should certainly help.

Before a potentially difficult stretch to close the regular season, the fourth-ranked Wolverines will try to keep the host Nittany Lions winless in the Big Ten on Wednesday night.

Michigan (23-4, 10-4) had dropped three of four before a 79-71 home victory over Penn State (8-18, 0-14) on Feb. 17. Trey Burke had a season-high 29 points, and Glenn Robinson III scored 21 while helping the Wolverines rally from an early eight-point deficit to record their fifth straight win in the series.

Burke then became the program's seventh sophomore to surpass 1,000 points with 26 in a 71-58 victory over visiting Illinois on Sunday. Once again, Michigan rallied from an early eight-point deficit.

"There's a bounce in our step right now," coach John Beilein said.

The Wolverines will try to keep those good vibes going by earning a fourth straight win at Penn State. A 71-65 victory last March clinched a share of their first Big Ten regular-season title since 1985-86.

Michigan is trying to catch up to conference-leading Indiana in this season's race and it will host the top-ranked Hoosiers in the regular-season finale March 10. The Wolverines will also play No. 9 Michigan State at home Sunday and hit the road again, where they've lost three straight, to face Purdue next Wednesday.

Beilein said his team needs all the help it can get.

"There are some guys that need to step up for us to continue in the direction we want to go," he said.

Michigan will try to get ready for the stretch run against a Nittany Lions team that secured a program-worst start to Big Ten play with the loss to the Wolverines. Penn State, though, has dropped its past three games by single digits.

After falling to Michigan, the Nittany Lions couldn't complete a rally from a nine-point halftime deficit in a 64-59 defeat at Illinois on Thursday. They pulled to within a point twice in the second half but could never take the lead.

"We just have to continue working hard every day," forward Sasa Borovnjak said Tuesday. "The results might show how hard we work and how much we've improved over the past couple of months."

Jermaine Marshall had a team-leading 20 points for his best scoring performance since a career-high 29 against Michigan State on Jan. 16. Leading scorer D.J. Newbill's shooting struggles, though, continued as he missed 10 of 14 attempts and finished with 12 points.

Newbill, averaging 15.8 points, scored 11 on 4-of-12 shooting at Michigan while Marshall and Borovnjak shared the team lead with 17 points.

Borovnjak is averaging 16.0 points on 20-of-27 shooting (74.1 percent) over the last three games after averaging 6.3 and 42.9 in his first 11 Big Ten contests.